Google Graveyard: these 5 services will certainly disappear in 2021
Google is known for regularly pruning its services and then releasing them under a new name or transferring certain functions to another service. In 2021 it will be no different, and here you will discover an overview of next year’s known victims.
Google Graveyard
Scrapping Google and services, many Android enthusiasts already automatically associate both with each other in their heads. It has already become a tradition, because you can be sure that heads will roll again every year. In fact, the happening is so infamous that there is even a Killed by Google website where you can give a final greeting.
In 2020, Google discontinued its Play Music music service to push YouTube Music as an alternative. It was immediately the best-known app that ended this year. Google also pulled the plug, among others: Trusted contacts, the Hire app for employers, the avatar app Androidify, the social network Shoelace and the Password Checkup extension for Chrome. It is striking that some of these services have been in use for barely a year.
Google already has more than 200 discontinued services on its tally
Casualties in 2021
Obviously, we don’t always know far in advance when a service will end. Certainly for the lesser-known services, CEO Sundar Pichai and his followers dare to bring out their scythe of death unexpectedly. Here you will discover four services or well-known features that will definitely lose support or disappear altogether.
1. Backups in Google Photos
What?
The popular Google Photos app isn’t going anywhere at all, of course, but the free and unlimited ‘high quality’ backups will come to an end. This means that the photos you store on Google’s cloud servers from June next year will now be part of the free 15 GB storage that comes with your Google account. Here we already wrote about alternatives to the free backups.
When?
June 1, 2021
You can check your remaining storage in Google Photos
2. Google Hangouts
What?
Google’s Hangouts messaging service has been a bit dead in the minds of many smartphone users since the ambitious Google Allo service was announced. Yet, strangely enough, Hangouts has been allowed to broadcast it longer than its successor. Really, it is a long and special history, but you can read all about it here.
When?
In the first half of 2021
The Hangouts app
3. Google Expeditions
What?
In Google Expeditions you could make a virtual trip through museums and other sights worldwide. The app was intended for educational purposes, and anyone using a virtual wanderlust has. You could in combination with Cardboard VR glasses. All expeditions will now have a place in the Google Arts & Culture app, where they are easier to find, according to Google. You can do all this with Arts & Culture.
When?
June 30, 2021
Expeditions in Google Arts & Culture
4. Android Things
What?
At the time of writing, the IoT operating system Andorid Things is the last name it became known that Google buried it. With the launch of Android Things, Google wanted to propose a platform for smart devices that is cost-effective. A year after its launch, Google stopped releasing updates, preferring smart devices that work with the Google Assistant.
When?
No more new projects from January 5, 2021, existing projects will stop on January 5, 2022
Android Things worked on accessible hardware
5. Chrome apps
What?
For more than 10 years, you can find a range of pre-installed programs on Chromebooks. From Google Docs to Keep and Drive, you could find them all as a desktop app. Google will refer users to the Android apps and web versions of the relevant services from next year. The disappearance of Chrome apps is also separate from the browser extensions in the Chrome Web Store.
When?
June 1, 2021, with enterprise support extended through June 2022
Google previously discontinued Chrome apps for Windows, macOS and Linux
Other services?
Of course there are many other services that will die next year, but this is already the selection of the most famous. What will you miss the most, and for which other services do you think Google is already engraving the gravestone? Let us know in the comments at the bottom of this article.
